Matt MacQueen

Awesome NY Times business + culture piece: Internet Boom in China Is Built on Virtual Fun by Shanghai correspondent David Barboza.

Some interesting bits caught my eye about how different the online population is there and what they choose to do online, especially the virtual identity playfulness:

…young people in China are playing online games, downloading video and music into their cellphones and MP3 players and entering imaginary worlds where they can swap virtual goods and assume online personas…

Another distinguishing feature is the youthful face of China’s online community. In the United States, roughly 70 percent of Internet users are over the age of 30; in China, it is the other way around — 70 percent of users here are under 30, according to the investment bank Morgan Stanley.

They discuss the rise of Tencent, a Chinese internet powerhouse (www.QQ.com) involved in everything current hot (and particularly mobile) there:

Because few people in China have credit cards or trust the Internet for financial transactions, e-commerce is emerging slowly. But instant messaging and game-playing are major obsessions, now central to Chinese culture. So is social networking, a natural fit in a country full of young people without siblings. Tencent combines aspects of the social networking site MySpace, the video sharing site YouTube and the online virtual world of Second Life.

“They have what I call the largest virtual park in China,” said Richard Ji, an analyst at Morgan Stanley. “And in China, the No. 1 priority for Internet users is entertainment; in the U.S., it’s information. That’s why Google is dominant in the U.S., but Tencent rules China.”

Tencent’s rapid rise is one reason America’s biggest Internet companies, like Yahoo, Google and eBay, have largely flopped in China. Analysts say the American companies struggle here partly because of regulatory restrictions that favor homegrown companies, but also because foreign companies often do not understand China’s Internet market, which is geared primarily to entertainment and mobile phones.

Really this article is excellent at highlighting how cultural differences should be driving those wishing to enter this amazing emerging market for mobile and internet products and services. The successful design of experiences for audiences like these requires deep cultural understanding and more anthropological user research techniques over force-fitting a US-centric internet/technology business strategy. The full article: NY Times: Internet Boom in China Is Built on Virtual Fun